James Prather joined Houston Institute as Director of Operations in July 2022, after teaching English in the YES Prep school district for two years. He holds a bachelor of arts in Comparative Literature and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction), both from Northwestern University, where he played tight-end on the football team. He is currently pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in poetry at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He and his wife, Lyndsey, have one daughter.